Hikma buying US firm Custopharm, Workspace agrees Shoreditch property purchase
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 71 points higher on Monday, having closed down 0.38% on Friday at 7,051.48.
Stocks to watch
Hikma Pharmaceuticals said it was buying US firm Custopharm from Water Street Healthcare Partners for $375m on a debt and cash-free basis, with a further $50m payable on meeting certain commercial milestones. California-based Custopharm, a generic sterile injectables company with a differentiated product portfolio and R&D pipeline, currently markets its products in the US through its commercial arm Leucadia Pharmaceuticals.
Workspace has exchanged contracts to acquire Stapleton House, also known as 'The Old Dairy', in Shoreditch, for a total of £43.38m, it announced on Monday. The FTSE 250 company said the property provides 57,000 square feet of net lettable space, and is currently 80% let, being acquired at a net initial yield of 4.9% and a capital value of £761 per square foot.
Newspaper round-up
Hundreds of soldiers could be scrambled to deliver fuel to petrol stations running dry across the country due to panic buying and a shortage of drivers under an emergency plan expected to be considered by Boris Johnson on Monday. The prime minister will gather senior members of the cabinet to scrutinise “Operation Escalin” after BP admitted that a third of its petrol stations had run out of the main two grades of fuel, while the Petrol Retailers Association (PRA), which represents almost 5,500 independent outlets, said 50% to 90% of its members had reported running out. It predicted that the rest would soon follow. - Guardian
A second wave of demand for more space will keep driving house prices across Great Britain higher, with values set to rise by up to 3.5% a year between 2022 and 2024, a forecast claims. The estate agent Hamptons also predicted that more homes will be sold in 2021 than in any year since 2007, after a record surge in activity this year as families sought larger homes after the pandemic. - Guardian
Octopus Energy is taking on the 580,000 customers of collapsed supplier Avro, as the wave of failures in the sector boosts the position of stronger businesses. Industry regulator Ofgem chose the new supplier after running a competition between other energy businesses. - Telegraph
David Cameron is facing new questions about his business links after the British division of a technology group he advises restated its accounts over multimillion-pound errors linked to its use of a financial mechanism that aids tax avoidance. The restatement of the 2019 accounts of the UK division of Afiniti, a Bermuda-based software company, threatens to open a new front in the scandal over the former prime minister’s choice of business partners. His reputation was tarnished by the collapse of Greensill Capital, the finance company he advised that is subject to a fraud inquiry and scrutiny over access to government. - The Times
The American private equity firm that has launched a £7 billion takeover for Morrisons has set up a vehicle in the Cayman Islands to be the ultimate owner of the supermarket chain, which has led to concerns about the tax implications of buyout deals. Details of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice’s offshore bid vehicle, Market21GP Holdings, have emerged just before the Takeover Panel is expected to formalise a timetable for an auction that should decide whether CD&R or a consortium led by Fortress Investment Group will own Morrisons.It is understood that an auction could come this weekend and end within a couple of weeks. - The Times
US close
Stocks closed in a mixed state on Wall Street on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.1% to 34,798.00.
The S&P 500 added 0.15% to 4,455.48, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.03% to 15,047.70.